The stark power imbalance between the Global North and South has long defined international relations a modern colonial continuity where economic coercion, policy imposition, and disregard for sovereignty persist under diplomatic veneers. The recent shuttering of USAID by the U.S. government, followed by the deportation of potentially dangerous criminals to Eswatini, crystallizes this destructive dynamic. This twin assault withdrawing life-saving aid while exporting social burdens exposes a brutal geopolitical hierarchy where vulnerable nations bear the brunt of Northern decisions, while their own governments often obscure the truth from citizens.
The USAID shutdown, strategic abandonment with human costs
On July 25, 2025, newly inaugurated U.S. President Donald Trump formalized the closure of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), acting on a directive from his government overhaul chief. This abrupt termination wasn’t merely bureaucratic it severed a lifeline for developing nations. In Eswatini, where USAID coordinated critical HIV/AIDS programs through President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), the shutdown risks catastrophic health outcomes, including undermining the supply of Antiretroviral (ARV) drugs for thousands.
Geopolitically, this move constitutes a massive strategic retreat. As one analysis harshly warned, dismantling USAID surrenders ground to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which has already invested over $1 trillion in global infrastructure projects. Unlike USAID’s focus on governance and sustainability, BRI projects like Sri Lanka’s debt-trapped Hambantota Port or Kenya’s standard gauge railway often create “debt dependency and political coercion”. For Taiwan, a key U.S. ally, USAID’s closure is devastating. Joint initiatives supporting its diplomatic partners like climate resilience fund in the Pacific or small business programs in Paraguay are now collapsing, leaving these nations vulnerable to Chinese economic pressure to abandon Taipei.
Deportations as Neo-Colonial dumping
Even as Eswatini grappled with the health implications of USAID’s closure, a second crisis erupted. The United States initiated deportations of individuals including alleged dangerous criminals back to Eswatini under a secretive bilateral agreement. This practice, framed as “repatriation,” functions as a form of dumping social liabilities onto nations ill-equipped to manage them. Local communities face heightened risks of crime and social destabilization, while receiving no support to reintegrate or monitor deportees.
On July 18, 2025, Eswatini’s women rose in furious protest. Organized by the Swaziland Rural Women Assembly (SRWA), they staged a bold demonstration outside the U.S. Embassy in Mbabane, brandishing signs demanding: “Take the Criminals Back!”. Their rallying cry, highlighted the profound injustice the same power that withdrew essential health aid now unloaded individuals deemed threats to public safety onto Eswatini’s streets.
Eswatini Government’s cloudiness and the transparency crisis
The SRWA’s protest wasn’t solely aimed at Washington it indicted Eswatini’s own government for complicity through silence. Details of the deportation agreement remain shrouded in secrecy. Who negotiated the terms? What risk assessments were conducted? What resources, if any, were provided for monitoring or rehabilitation? The government’s refusal to disclose this information fuels public mistrust and accusations of prioritizing foreign relations over citizen safety.
This lack of transparency is systemic. Vulnerable communities particularly women are left uninformed about potential dangers, unable to advocate for protective measures or hold leaders accountable. When governments conceal agreements impacting public safety, they become active participants in the North’s exploitative hierarchy.
The gendered burden of geopolitical violence
Women and girls disproportionately bear the consequences of these intersecting crises. The withdrawal of USAID funding directly threatens healthcare programs critical to women, including maternal health, HIV treatment and increase unpaid care work for women. Simultaneously, deporting individuals with criminal histories without safeguards exacerbates vulnerabilities to gender-based violence (GBV), especially in a country where an estimated 1 in 3 women experiences violence.
As SRWA’s mobilization proves, women are not passive victims. Their protest embodied a dual resistance against Northern hegemony and domestic governmental failure. Their action aligns with a global recognition articulated at the 2025 G20 Interfaith Forum that women face systemic barriers stating that 980 million women lack access to basic financial services, yet possess immense strength and capability as critical actors in civic space.
Breaking this cycle requires radical shifts at multiple levels which include:
- The U.S. must reverse the ideologically driven USAID shutdown. Development aid isn’t charity it’s an investment in global stability and a counterweight to authoritarian expansion. Deportation policies must include rigorous, transparent risk assessments and resource support for receiving nations.
- Eswatini’s government must immediately disclose the deportation agreement terms, risk data, and mitigation plans. Civil society must have seats at the table in negotiating or challenging such accords.
- G20 and UN must challenge coercive debt diplomacy and sanction nations that “dump” social problems on weaker states. International frameworks should require human rights impact assessments for deportations and aid withdrawals.
SRWA’s courageous stand outside the U.S. Embassy is more than a local protest it’s a beacon for Global South resistance. As Northern powers reshape the world through brute financial and political force, the response must be unwavering solidarity, unflinching transparency and the elevation of those most affected not as victims, but as the architects of a just future. Stop treating our nations, our bodies, and our lives as collateral. The path to equity begins by hearing them.
